


The Price That Must Be Paid

by ImpulsivelyBlue



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batfamily Feels, Canon Temporary Character Death, Hurts So Good, M/M, Mentions of canon character death, a little au, pack your bags we're going on a feels trip, so many feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-26
Updated: 2014-02-26
Packaged: 2018-01-13 20:51:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1240366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImpulsivelyBlue/pseuds/ImpulsivelyBlue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one knows much about what happened to these people to push them to this, but most can understand. This is Gotham. No one is safe. No one is innocent. Everyone can be corrupted, for the right price. There are no heroes in Gotham, but there are vigilantes. They are human and breakable and Gotham has broken them many times. They get back up and they fight and protect and they are survivors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Price That Must Be Paid

\---

The shadows of Gotham embrace her heroes as they are. All of their faults and lies; what they were and are to become can be hidden there. It’s like hiding in the cupboard at the bottom of the stairs when your parents fight or sleeping with that one teddy because it’s just that special.

The shadows of Gotham are a reassurance and a tool; they are the place for her heroes to fight from and a place for her villains to run to.

Batman is not the first in the city to fight from the shadows, to plot and hide and move in them. But he is the first to find a different use for the shadows. He protects people and soon the villains are running towards the red and blue lights that cur through the night. They don’t want to be in the shadows anymore, the shadows hide a hero now, and they are no longer safe for shady deals and wrong doings. It is Batman’s place and what he protects. In Gotham the shadows are fear and hope.

Robin stands proud and bright in the shadows a reassuring smile and a bright laugh that is the opposite of Batman and his darkness. Robin is tainted by the shadows and the filth of Gotham. He is the red, yellow and green of hope and safety. He is a soft smile in a shadow and he is a protector. He blends in to the shadows al well as the bat does and he can fight just as viciously.

No one knows much about what happened to these people to push them to this, but most can understand. This is Gotham. No one is safe. No one is innocent. Everyone can be corrupted, for the right price. There are no heroes in Gotham, but there are vigilantes. They are human and breakable and Gotham has broken them many times. They get back up and they fight and protect and they are survivors.

When Nightwing appears, people notice. He’s almost Robin but not quite. Hes tainted and strong and a fighter. But he’s haunted too. Memories and actions colouring his movements as he flies with natural grace over the Gotham rooftops.

They watch as a girl appears, strong and grace full. She fights and she protects. She is a bright smile and bright red hair. People smile as they see the yellow of a bat and the swish of red hair. They whisper excitedly as blue and red are seen in flashes and blurs all over the city.

Later they miss the laughter of the two that flew over the rooftops, the familiarity of _thank you Batgirl_. She is a smile for the city only to be lost to a crazed smile and blood red lips and bright, bright green hair. They cry for their loss.

The blue and black of Nightwing’s costume is seen in Gotham less and less. But it is seen in Bludhaven more and more. People notice this of course, the whispers start and people talk. _All birds have to leave the nest at some point_ , after all.

When the new Robin appeared people stare and wonder. He isn’t like the other Robin. He’s still red, green and canary yellow but there’s something about him they recognise. He’s like them, a street rat and trash that had been tossed aside. He’s something more than the other Robin but in other ways he is less. He’s seen smiling, a sharp toothed smile and standing with bloody hands. He’s a protector and wants to be protected. He’s a survivor and a fighter. No one asks questions about him, they trust him less than the other Robin. _Never trust a survivor until you know what they’ve done to survive,_ is whispers in dirty bars and filthy alley ways.

This Robin doesn’t last long and suddenly the shadows are more threatening and the blue of Nightwing’s costume is gone. They miss the red, yellow and green of the Robin with the frightful smile and they are worried for themselves when they leave their homes.

What will happen to Batman now?

Who will the Joker take next?

Their answer comes in a new Robin. Still the red, yellow and green of the others; and more of the shadows than anyone else. This Robin is silence and intelligence and everything Batman needs him to be. They watch as the blue of Nightwing’s costume is seen more and more out of the corner of their eye. They see Gotham become more and less. Robin is seen in other places, with a team, with friends and safe. He is no longer a shadow of a dead boy but a hero and a leader.

There is a fleeting moment of purple and a head of blond hair dresses in green, red and yellow before this Robin is back. No one talks about that time. They all know she is gone, Gotham is never kind to her heroes and they must endure her deadly games. There are the strong and the not strong enough; there are also those that fall from their flight. _You can’t fly on broken wings_ , the people of Gotham whisper as, for the first time, a previous Robin returns.

When this Robin returns though there is something different, there is something dark and just missed out of the corner of their eyes. This Robin is a survivor now. This makes them nervous, _what had he had to do to survive?_

When the city falls in to the red, red red and insanity green of the Red Hood, people are scared.

They know who he might be and they know he has had to survive and endure. They don’t know though, what he has survived. Red Hood brings Batman to his knees and he paints the green and yellow of Robins costume red with blood.

They are happy when Red Hood, the not but maybe at some point dead Robin birdy fighter survivor protector, finds the Joker, maybe this will be the end?

It isn’t.

There is a moment of calm in the city before they begin to see gangs and organisations fight back and try to regain their territory again. This is a bad time for the city of Gotham, the people are scared again.

When Robin is seen again he’s still the same only a ghost of what he was going to be. He had changed again. He is seen as a replacement and replaceable and people watch him fall apart, only to build himself back up again higher than he was before. Years later they watch him fall again, so much further than before and for so much longer. _He tries to piece himself back together_ , they whisper _, but he’s breaking, broken and gone._

No one sees Batman for a long time, people are nervous; when they see him again they are disappointed. This is the wrong Batman, he is theirs, yes. But the wrong Batman all the same. They quiver and shake and the bow their heads, _the city may make her heroes but she can break them as well. Gotham can be a cruel bitch,_ this they all know.

Following the Batman but not really Batman is Robin. For a while its okay, they are familiar with this Robin, not everything is lost. The people hold on to their hope until there is no Robin. They sigh and shake their heads, _he was always meant to fall,_ they whisper.

They don’t expect what happens next. Next the Robin that had come back is back again. He has different colours and hides in the shadows but they can still see him. They don’t understand until they see Robin. _It isn’t right,_ they whisper _, he’s no good, he doesn’t understand_ they mutter. There is a Batman and there is a Robin but there isn’t Batman and Robin.

There are rumours of another Batgirl, they are true in a way. Black Bat is strong and she is never crossed twice. There are rumours in other country’s and rumours in Gotham. All of these pale in comparison to the truth. She stays for a while, only to leave for a bigger city she whishes’ to protect. The people of Gotham are happy with this bat, they know she will return.

As Gotham crumbles under her new rule, something happens, Red Hood returns but he is different. Red Robin is here but he is broken.

They fight for each other and they fight with each other. It is different it is more like Batman and Robin than the Batman and Robin are.

They are partners and they are family.

They are the protective shadows that people run to when they have too, need to, hide.

They are Gotham’s heroes, shaped by their mistakes and cast aside when they are seen as no longer useful and too broken to fix.

They are survivors and people whisper about the things they have don to survive. The people of Gotham are proud, in a way; these are the heroes they remember.

 _Gotham has her heroes, but what price must be paid for them to stay,_ they ask.

The price is a family.

There are glowing screens and whispers in the shadows. Oracle is here and she is everything. She is the whisper in the ear of the heroes and the reason the villains and monsters of the city can no longer hide.

Gotham rises again, under the watchful eye of Oracle and the heavy gaze of the lost Batman. Nightwing blue paints the city and returns to the streets of Bludhaven.

Robin is at Batman’s side, still not Robin and still a thing to be wary of. People still will not approach the little boy with the knives and wares the shadows like it is his right rather than his place. People run from this Robin.

Red Hood and Red Robin are often found together. They fix each other and they fight for each other. The people of Gotham whisper about _the Red’s and Big Red and Little Red._ Red Robin laughs at this and Red Hood scowls. They are still Gotham’s heroes, but they are not welcomed by Batman and Robin anymore, even Nightwing leaves them well alone.

They are a family divided. And yet, they still manage to stand tall. _A house divided,_ the people whisper, _we all know what happens to a house divided and fighting itself._

\---


End file.
